In recent years, higher performance and higher densities of electronic components inside small electronic equipment (such as a portable personal computer (PC)) are being achieved. Along with the progress toward higher performance and higher densities, heat generation by electronic components, such as a Central Processing Unit (CPU), is becoming a major problem during operation. As the size of a housing tends to become thinner, lighter, and smaller, heat generated by electronic components in the housing is apt to remain inside the housing. To ensure adequate performance and reliability of the electronic component, it is essential to cool down the heat generated by the electronic component promptly.
Many types of electronic equipment apply the following cooling mechanism to remove the heat inside their housings. Specifically, heat from electronic components is firstly transferred to a heatsink which is made of a material having high thermal conductivity. Outside air is taken into the housing by use of a fan to create an air flow. The heatsink is cooled by the air flow. The heat generated by the electronic component is removed from a surface of the heatsink together with the air. To create the air flow, the housing includes an inlet port for taking the outside air in and an exhaust port for discharging the heated air out.
However, when a fan for air cooling is disposed inside a housing of a small piece of electronic equipment, the fan is limited to a small size because the size of the housing tends to be thinner, lighter, and smaller. As a result, an air volume of the fan is reduced, whereby the air flow can hardly flow inside the congested housing. As a consequence, it is difficult to supply a sufficient amount of the air onto the surface of the heatsink for cooling purposes. That is to say, in small electronic equipment, it is not possible to perform sufficient cooling only by use of the above-described cooling mechanism utilizing the heatsink and the air flow. When the electronic component such as the CPU is not cooled down sufficiently, a malfunction and a failure of the electronic component are caused, and problems arise in light of safety and reliability.
Conventional techniques for cooling small electronic equipment (e.g., a PC) are disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publications Nos. 3064584 and 3043379, for example. However, these publications merely disclose the technique to cool the inside of a housing of a PC simply by use of a fan. In other words, these publications do not disclose a sufficient technique especially for cooling small electronic equipment.
An object of the present invention is to cool electronic components generating heat during operation, the electronic components residing within a housing of an electronic equipment.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an electronic equipment, which is capable of changing a thermal conduction path for discharging heat generated by electronic components inside a housing out of the housing, increasing freedom of thermal design, and transferring the heat to a necessary spot.